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Episode100
Meat and Tentacles First off, this logger would like to recognize the outstanding achievement of running ONE HUNDRED sessions before passing the torch. This may have been done before but certainly not in recorded history so, on behalf of the players, we present Smack Monkey with the "Arbiter Iron Man" award. It will be a long time before we see this epic run broken. Back to our session... We picked things up deep(er) in Yaw's nose, seeking a place to escape the wrath of the inevitable and imminently gigantic sneeze. We had just Gazed the Reaver Spawner and taken refuge in the relative safety of the sphincter which had closed with that nasty Maw creature on the other side. Almost immediately, our collective relief evaporated, however, when the sphincter suddenly re-opened and the Maw began reaching through with its snotty tentacles. With a sudden sense of urgency we began to scatter, but to our horror were slowed by a sudden interpretation of the 'half-move SF' rules which left us horrifically tied to "SF Forever" movement time. The +1 Speed Factor Penalty from the Maw's Natural 20 Area Effect attack that had hit everybody last time didn't help either! Thanks to Joe staying behind and taking 300DR of snotty tentacle burst damage most of the rest of us were able to move further down the passage and out of sight of the Maw however. Thanks, Joe! Deeper down the passage we came face to face with the next layer of defense; swarms of 'Skitr drones' which, while not very tough individually, were beginning to swarm in great numbers (almost like an allergic reaction). Pete took one out and discovered that they detonate at-will (or on death). More began to flood out from openings in the walls and we soon realized that we'd be completely swamped if we didn't move quickly. The main danger they posed was wearing us (and our followers) down through attrition since there were simply too many to destroy. The other danger that presented were even more sphincters, Crystalline this time, closing down the length of the long passage ahead of us. It was going to be tough to get to the end without getting overwhelmed and/or trapped! "Plan Portal" was hatched to get us all 80-odd space hexes down the passageway, but it was foiled when the crystalline sphincters shut (in preparation for the big sneeze?). We were going to have to ride out the sneeze before moving on but with the sphincters closed our options were limited. The Skitr drones were also beginning to swarm in alarming numbers and, while not difficult to kill, they were attacking en masse and getting their share of statistically likely criticals. It was then that Oz, in a moment of inspiration, invoked the power of Traxis the Dragon to boost the protective power of the Scale of Passing. Traxis heard his call through his Blue Scale (in Oz's pocket) and answered with a surge of renewed sense of vigor and shared purpose in saving the Mother. The effort had a hefty cost of two sacrificial Bennies but extended the protective zone to a full space hex which was more than enough to shelter our entire Nostril Intrusion Force (NIF). Within the protective bubble provide by the scale we had a bit more time to find another option so Kiwi explored to the end of nearest side passage. In there, he found the end and, thanks to an epic Science check from Joe, we determined that we could be relatively safe there from the imminent sneeze. "Plan Portal" was revised and we all beamed to the passageway's end. With the bubble pushing away the Skitr Drones we could hide everyone within the wall-holes except for our vehicles and Oros who were too big. Unfortunately, that meant that they would all likely be sucked back down the nostrils and end up gods knows where with god knows what damage. Thankfully, Joe had been saving a particular piece of tech for just such an occasion. He revealed that he had a Temporal Stasis device that could stop time for a limited number of segments. If the timing was right then we could be safely in stasis while the worst of the sneeze washed over us harmlessly. The AoE was pretty small so Oz suggested seeking epic inspiration in the form of a Bennie sacrifice since the moment was nigh and the need was dire. In (sub-)epic fashion, Joe used a Bennie to temporarily boost the power to cover us all and we slipped out of time, (burning the Stasis Field out in the process, unfortunately). Moments later we emerged from the Stasis bubble to find that the sneeze had passed and things were returning to normal, (normal for the inside of the Nose of an immense Reaver infused Dragon floating in space beyond the edge of the Galaxy, that is). Thanks to Joe's quick-thinking we had managed to avoid the sneeze entirely! The Skitr drones were beginning to emerge again though, so we needed to get moving. Unfortunately, the increased area effect on the Scale of Passing bubble was fading and needed renewing. Again, Oz sacrificed two Bennies to renew the space hex of protection, then we all jumped into the portal back to the crystalline sphincter. It was just the first of a handful of sphincters that were opening and closing in predictable cadence. We moved through the first two and were about to move through the next but we ran out of time and called it for the night. Back to Space Junk Log Category:Space Junk